keep the distance
by hesitance
Summary: because she is part of him and he is a part of her, and isn't it beautiful, the way they always just miss? teddylily


**AN: And so it begins. Lyrics at the top are Kate Nash.**

**Summary: because she is part of him and he is a part of her, and isn't it beautiful, the way they always just miss? teddylily**

**-:-  
**

_you said you'd lend me anything—_

_i think i'll have your company._

-:-_  
_

**_one:_**

It is a bright Sunday morning when she first makes him feel special.

She is barely three, moving with boundless curiosity and excitement that is affirmed in every bounce of her red curls, and as the whole extended family watches, she looks up.

Her eyes fall to you quickly, and as her mother and father watch with questions and wonder, they stay on you. And stay and stay, until the whole family sees the way she can't take her eyes off of you and vice versa.

_(even when she looks away, you never do)_

**_two:_**

Five years later, life has only become more beautiful with her in it.

She's only eight and you are approaching twenty far too fast, but still, she is _yours _and you are _hers_ in a way no one has thought twice about in quite some time.

Victoire is still around, drawing the boys in and spitting them back out like it's an art form, but she is far too composed for your taste.

_(blond, not red, and this is not the type of beauty you need)_

Lily, too young to know what she is doing, has you wrapped around her pinky finger and it is _just coincidence_ that your first job leaves you open to afternoons at the pond.

**_three:_**

When she goes to Hogwarts for the first time, she is so far away that it burns.

"And… and… you'll write me every day, right, Teddy?"

You do, and the distance is a little less heart wrenching with her Slytherin-tinted reports of classes and the way things never quite change as much as you thought they might.

_**four:**_

The change you fear doesn't hit until her fourth year, when you are finally settling into your job, into Victoire's presence, into life with your new-and-_never-improved_ brand of communication.

She stops writing back in mid-October.

The time until you see her again is hard, but then it's Christmas break and _oh my gosh she's here_.

With Lysander Scamander.

(_what a stupid name, he thinks, hair turning a vicious shade of green)_

She ignores you and you pretend it doesn't sting.

**five:**

She is far too young for this and you know it, know it with such absolution that the thought itself makes you cringe.

Skirt too short and top too low, those brief glimpses of pale thighs make you doubt it all in a way her father would certainly frown upon.

Since Scamander, the boys have multiplied in number and divided in quality.

Still, she is _beautiful, _in a kill-the-lights sort of way, and you can't help but imagine those kohl-lined eyes glued on yours again, as they were so many years before.

_ (please, take me back to the way things were)_

_**six:**_

It isn't as long as you thought before damn Lysander Scamander pops back up at her side. Together, they go to all the obligatory family events, and as you watch Lily with her Ly and Victoire with her newest acquisition, you can forget that you are alone, and just drown in their supposed happiness.

_(because we all break in our own way)_

And when he _b r e a k s h e r h e a r t_, you do nothing.

**_seven:_**

It is a cool fall night when you see her next, but it's different. You are at a family event, faking smoothness in a skinny tie and feeling older than ever.

She is dressed to kill, all _sky high heels _and _smoldering eyes_ that you know the rest of them fall for, but you can't ignore the bags under her eyes and the curl that won't stay in place, all things that scream of desperation closer to the surface than you've ever seen it.

You swear you are content to keep your distance _(lies lies lies)_ but are saved from the decision when she approaches.

"You…" you start, rendered too speechless to continue the thought.

"Me," she says, closing the distance between you two, and as more than two decades of hesitance is blown away, she makes you feel special one more time.

_(time has nothing on us, baby)_


End file.
